In last month’s column, we talked about ways to make your site more valuable ahead of selling it. Today, I’m going to focus on the sort of information you need to be prepared to give to a potential buyer.
This information isn’t just about increasing the perceived value of your site; it’s information any serious, savvy buyer will want to have in hand when making a purchasing decision about any site they acquire.
First, before giving a prospective buyer any information, have them sign a non-disclosure agreement. If you use a brokering service like ours, the NDA will be provided for you.
Make sure and include a list of all the websites you’re selling, in addition to any domains that come along with the sale. Even if the buyer has expressed interest in only one site, they might see something in this additional info that piques their curiosity, or that adds value to the site they’re already considering.
What’s special or different about your website? How is it unique? Anything that seems like a unique selling point should be emphasized.
Is there anything that adds value to the sale, such as any tangible assets that come along with the site or sites?
Tell the prospective buyer how well your content has been protected from piracy and what steps you’ve taken to protect your content. Are you using a piracy takedown or monitoring service? These are important facts to know.
What promotional tools do you offer to your affiliates? The more tools you offer, the more successful your affiliates will be.
What is your traffic breakdown by country? When it comes to adult site traffic, “Tier One” countries like the US, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia are the most preferred. If all your traffic comes from India, African nations, or any country or region that is difficult to bill, it won’t be nearly as valuable – and the same goes for your website.
What is your member retention rate? How well you retain your members is of the utmost importance. How many joins and rebills do you have per day?
Do you buy advertising and if so what kind? Make a detailed list of your active campaigns, especially those which have been most productive.
How much did you spend to produce or buy the content that’s on your site and what do you believe the content is worth now? Can your content make more money in the DVD or VOD markets, or have you already taken advantage of this opportunity? It’s not necessarily a bad thing if there are potential revenue streams for your content that you haven’t explored yet, because that leaves an opportunity for the buyer that they might not have anticipated.
Add in anything else that will add value to the sale of your property that you can think of, such as what custom scripts you use. What content management system software is on your site. Do you use billing or affiliate software like NATS?
Of course, you should also be prepared to provide prospective buyers with any additional information upon request. This list of considerations covers a lot of territory, but within reason, tell the potential buyer anything they want to know if it’s going to encourage them to purchase.
Good brokers like Adult Site Broker have a large resource of potential buyers that are looking for properties just like yours. And they know how to deal with potential buyers. They will also negotiate the terms of the sale, such as price and any payment terms.
Before closing the sale find a good escrow service to make sure that both the buyer and the seller are protected. We have those resources of course. But if you decide to do it yourself, we’re more than happy to share this information with you.
We’ll talk about this subject more next time.
